Excel Text Formula (Table of Content)
Introduction to Excel Text with Formula
Many times this happens that we need to extract some part of the text from a cell value and that too dynamically. This might be a case where we need to extract only the first name from the complete names of the student or only the surname from the full name of the student. Or this may happen in the case where we need the day name from a date.
By using this inbuilt function of excel we can actually extract the defined characters from the text of another cell. Functions such as MID, TEXT, LEFT, RIGHT can be used to extract the text from another cell.
Methods to Use Excel Text with Formula
Excel Text Formula is used to convert numbers to text in an excel sheet, let’s look at a few methods.
Method #1 – Using the MID Function
The first step will be to decide whether we need to extract the text dynamically or we just need a static count of characters.
The next step will be to insert the formula if need to extract the static count of characters.
=MID(A2,1,SEARCH(” “,A2,1)-1)
A2 will be the location of the cell from where the text has to be extracted. 1 is the starting point from the text has to be extracted. The search function will lookup the occurrence of “Space” in text and will return the location of “Space”.
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In this way text is extracted only till the “Space”.
Method #2 – Using the LEFT Function
The first step will be to identify whether we need the characters from the left of the text or right of the cell. If we need the characters from the left then only we need to use this function. Now we need to use the below function of LEFT
=LEFT(text,num_Chars)
The text will be the cell from where the text has to be extracted. Num_chars will the character count that needs to be extracted.
Method #3 – Using TEXT Function
Using this function we can convert any value to text if we have a numeric value in a cell and we need that value as TEXT than we can actually use this function. First, we need to know in which format we need to extract the text.
Now we need to design the text formula.
=text (Text, format)
TEXT= the location of the cell from where the Text has to be extracted.
Format= defining the format in which we need the text.
Method #4 – Using RIGHT Function
This function can be used if in case we need to extract the text starting from the right of the cell. We need to use the below function to extract the text starting from the right of a cell
=RIGHT(text,num_Chars)
The text will be the cell from where the text has to be extracted.
Num_chars will the character count that needs to be extracted.
Now we need to enter this formula in the cell and the characters from the RIGHT of the cell will be extracted.
Illustrations to Extract Text Using Formula
Now let’s look at a few practical examples on how to extract text using formula in excel.
Illustration #1 – Extracting Text by using MID Function
By using the MID function we can get the desired TEXT with this formula.
Illustration #2 – Extracting Text by using the Function TEXT
Illustration #3 – Extracting the Text by using the LEFT Function
Illustration #4 – Extracting Text by using RIGHT Function
Things to Remember
- The characters that are extracted with the help of the above functions will be formatted as text, even if the values are extracted.
- Using the TEXT function we can get the dates in the desired function but this should be remembered that the extracted dates will be TEXT and not a date to excel. For formatting the text as dates we then need to use a delimiter
- The function of LEFT and MID is the same if we are extracting the same count of characters as both the functions extracts from the left of the cell.
- If the characters counts that need to be extracted are not stagnant then we need to use the function of SEARCH inside the function of MID to make MID function as dynamic.
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This is a guide to Excel Text with Formula. Here we discuss How to Use Excel Text with Formula in Excel along with examples and downloadable excel template. You may also look at the following articles to learn more –
